Wyoming Cowgirl Part 6 – Cheyenne Greub

The area of Johnson County, Wyoming is known for being a place of genuine ranch and cowboy families. Being born into one of these families, Cheyenne Greub is carrying on her Wyoming Cowgirl roots and family traditions. Cheyenne and her husband Jesse Greub are raising their daughter to be a Wyoming Cowgirl too!

Jesse, Ellie and Cheyenne after a neighbors branding.

Cheyenne Greub is an excellent example of what a Wyoming Cowgirl is. If you see Cheyenne somewhere she is known for being found wearing her cowboy hat, a big smile, and stories of adventures from the ranch and cow camp up on mountain.

Cheyenne and Ellie on Georgie checking cows on the mountain at cow camp summer 2016. Ellie’s first stint at cow camp “on the outside” haha!

Cheyenne is a talented cowgirl poet. She has many real life experiences to pull from and an intellect to put it all down beautifully in words that flow and rhyme. Cheyenne Greub has an old soul and it shines through in her clever cowboy poetry.

Cowboy Poetry Book Cheyenne published with her late friend and mentor Pat Berg.

Wyoming Cowgirl, Cheyenne Greub, is also known for being a very talented photographer! Cheyenne captures moments that show she lives and works in some of the most beautiful places on earth.

Winchester Trail, Cheyenne Greub Photography

Red Skies At Morning, Cheyenne Greub Photography

TTT Bucks, Cheyenne Greub Photography

I recently asked Cheyenne to tell me about her life as a Wyoming Cowgirl…

I’m proud to be a fourth generation Wyoming rancher. I love that my (mainly) Basque and German heritage can be traced back for over 100 years and I know just where and whom I came from. History is important. Heritage is who we are. I wish more people thought this way and then maybe the next generation would better benefit because they could see that they too are a part of a legacy, history in the making. My husband, Jesse, and I are continuing our ranching heritage with our daughter, Elynor Mae “Ellie” who just turned 2 in December. Even at her young age she is learning and retaining so much.”

Riding mountain cow camp summer 2016. Jesse on Tawny, Ellie and Cheyenne on Georgie. Ellie is sleeping. When you spend eight hours in the saddle, you take your naps on the go!

Cheyenne and Jesse have been married for 11 years, but grew up together, so working together came natural and it’s something they enjoy everyday. Now, with Ellie, they tend to their personal cows, day work for neighbors and continue to ride a mountain cow camp in the summer months. This will be their 10th year.

“Work is fun when it’s something you love and with someone you love, as well.” Cheyenne added, “We’ve learned to slow down a bit since having Ellie; fixing fence is our favorite job with her helping pack staples, and telling us confidently with a big grin, “I do it!”. It sure makes our decision to keep her with us rather than put her in daycare or leave her with a sitter that much easier when we see her growing, learning and enjoying this life with us. If our parents had put us in daycare or taken us to a babysitter everytime they had a job to do on the ranch they would have been loosing the opportunities to teach us work ethic and patience, and wouldn’t have made a good financial decision being the cost of the daycare or sitter would probably cost more than the job… Yet another big deciding factor in our decision to keep Ellie home with us. But most importantly, we couldn’t buy back the milestones we would miss, the first crawl, first steps, first words and that’s something we didn’t want to sacrifice. We both grew up staying at home, ranching with family and enjoyed our childhoods full of hours spent in the cold, heat, wind and rain learning how to be a hand, making memories and learning practical skills that we use to this day. We also learned at a young age to be resilient, whether it be in a situation or when dealing with the weather. You just learn to handle things as they come, getting bent out of shape or giving up doesn’t get you very far, so learning this at a young age is a huge benefit and makes life better in general.”

Riding through the rain with smiles.

Learning resilience

Cheyenne on Targhee. Jesse gave Cheyenne choice out of a pen full of horses for a Christmas gift years ago. She picked the one with the biggest attitude and hip. They started her, used her for roping bulls, pack breaking colts at cow camp and any job in between. They plan to raise babies out of her someday. Photo Credit, Cheyenne’s mom, Chele Needens

When Cheyenne isn’t helping Jesse she takes on side jobs where she can take Ellie along, and now at barely 2 Ellie is learning to be a great help whether it be fencing or sorting cows and sheep. Family, heritage and working in the outdoors is very important to her and keeping tradition alive, in hopes to pass the values and lifestyle on to her children someday. She enjoys taking pictures of her ranch life; usually from a’horseback, writes Cowboy Poetry and enjoys crafting and building anything and everything! Cheyenne loves a good adventure as long as it involves critters and nature, and better yet, “if it’s in the middle of nowhere!”

Cheyenne and Ellie with a newborn baby calf.

I find it good to know that there are Wyoming Cowgirls like Cheyenne Greub out there working and having fun while being rooted in ranching traditions and heritage.

About Tiffany Schwenke

My family has been ranching and raising horses for over 100 years. We raise, train, and market AQHA horses at North Four Mile Creek Horse Ranch.
We produce the annual event WYO WILD RIDE RANCH RODEO.
I am a wife and a mother to 3 amazing...